Week 7, Ed Founds, Sec., 2012

Humanist approaches to learning and teaching

A case studyMaslow:• Bio and context• Hierarchy of needs, motivation theory• Strengths and limitations

Rogers: • Bio• Theories, therapy and education• Strengths and limitations

Humanist education: classroom implicationsHumanist education: strengths and limitationsA job interview questionIntegrating the person and the contentThe teacher’s self in the classroom

Listen to Dayna’s story and think about the following question in relation to Maslow’s theory of needs and motivation:

What would be the most helpful thing the school and the biology teacher could do for Dayna?

A case study: Dayna

Bio and context: • Russian Jew descent• Tormenting relationship with parents• Anti-Semitic environment• Student of behaviourist psychology• Influences of A. Adler, E. Fromm, R. Benedict, M.

Wertheimer, etc• Personality and motivation of healthy and successful

individuals• Humanistic psychology: ‘third-force’ psychology• Enduring influence in psychology, education, and business

Maslow and Humanist Education

Abraham H. Maslow

(1908-1970)

“marginal man, the Outsider, the rejected person who has no home” (Maslow, 1960, p. 13)

Limitations of needs at each levelSelf-actualisation at the summit of the

hierarchy

Hierarchy of needsB

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Food, water, sleep, breathing, excretion, etcPhysical homeostasisMaslow’s childhood experience

Physiological needs

Physical protection from harmFinancial securityAdequate materials for survivalMaslow’s experience

Safety needs

Love, affection, intimacy ,and belongingnessTo receive as well as to give Maslow’s experience

Love needs

Respected and valued by othersSelf-esteemAccurate regards of selfHigher than love needsMaslow’s experience

Esteem needs

Influences from mentors

‘What a man can be, he must be.’ (Maslow, 1943, p.10)

Self-actualisation

Motivation of the psychologically healthyRank order of relative saliencyDeficiency (D) needs and being (B) needsMultiple motivations of behaviour

Hierarchy of needs, cont’d

Recognises:• higher needs than physiology as behavioural

motivators• affective and emotive aspects of learning

Limitations:• Linear sequence and mechanical structure of

the hierarchy• What do the homeless get out of being in a

football team?• What’s self-esteem to the seriously ill?

Strengths and limitations

Brief bioTheories:• Self-actualising tendency• Alienating culture and society

Therapy:• Non-directive / client-centred• Reflection and active listening

Education:• Interpersonal relationship as core business• Positive self-concept as main goal

Rogers and Humanist Education

Carl Rogers(1902-1987)

“When I look at the world I'm pessimistic, but when I look at people I am optimistic.”

"The very essence of the creative is its novelty, and hence we have no standard by which to judge it."

“The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction not a destination.”Sources of quotes

in callouts: Rogers, 1961

Understanding the affective and emotive needs of the learner

Relationship, not curriculumNon-directive role of teacherListening, not talking

Humanist Education: Classroom Implications

A Grammar classroom, from Sulpizio, 1495

Recognises:Learners as unique individualsLearners’ affective needs

Limitations: Polarisation of person and contentNeglect of teachers’ whole being in the

classroom

Humanist Education: Strengths and Critiques

You are at an interview for a job at a school with a large number of students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. The principal asks, ‘At our school, some of our students live in troubled and sometimes abusive family environments, some others are from refugee or new immigrant families with financial difficulties. Considering the problems these students experience in their lives, how will you engage them in their studies of English / maths / science / music / PE / ...?’

A Job Interview Question

How to be yourself in the classroomBecoming oneself through becoming anotherKnowing how you communicate

Teachers’ self in the classroom

Maslow, A. (1943) A theory of human motivation, Psychological Review, 50.

Rogers, C. (1961) On Becoming a Person: A Therapist's View of Psychotherapy, Constable, London.

References